THE head of school sports in North Oxfordshire is urging the Government to ride the wave of success from the Olympics and reinstate funding.

Two years ago George Osborne announced Department for Education funding for school sport partnerships would be dropped as part of his controversial spending review.

But schools in North Oxfordshire clubbed together to fund the School Sports Partnership, SSP, until August 2013.

Now with the final year of the SSP looming, manager Carl Hamilton has called for the cash to be reinstated to help create a lasting Olympic legacy.

He oversees sport provision for 18,500 children, aged five to 19, across 57 schools in Bicester, Kidlington and Banbury, Mr Hamilton said: “The whole bid for the Olympic Games was won on the basis of legacy for young people.

“Unfortunately when the present Government came in it went totally against that.

“The SSP initiative has been truly inspirational and has been about inspiring a lot of youngsters to be more active and more healthy. That’s what the Government wants.

“The Government needs to reverse the policy it brought in over the past two years. “It scaled down the school sports partnerships and that policy needs to be reversed. It’s coming out loud and clear.”

He said trainee primary school teachers had a total of six hours sports training before taking on a teaching post.

Mr Hamilton said: “Then they are put into school and expected to deliver this important part of the curriculum.

“How do they identify talented kids if they don’t really know what they are looking for? It’s vital to grab them early and develop all the basics at school.”

When the partnership was set up in 2004, only 25 per cent of North Oxfordshire schoolchildren took part in at least two hours of sport a week.

By 2010 that figure was 90 per cent.

It set up lunch and after-school sports activities, inter-school competitions, teacher training, created links to local sports clubs, trained sports co-ordinatiors and junior leaders, as well as funding visits by specialist coaches.

Steve Flynn, chairman of Bicester Athletics Club, who said the club was “extremely disappointed” when funding was withdrawn because it supported children’s sport at all levels.

He said: “I have personally been involved with this School Sports Partnership and can vouch for the benefits to all involved.”

The Department of Education did not comment on SSP funding, but said in light of the Olympics a review to improve opportunities for state school pupils was under way.

Sir Michael Wilshaw said: “The panel will use their experiences, expertise and knowledge to help us to develop radical ideas to end the cycle of underachievement in too many parts of the country.”